Neil Inder: ‘It was always going to be an interesting ride’

In the previous term, I was president of the committee which delivered Guernsey’s first island-wide election for all deputies. Casting my mind back, I was in my element. There is nothing a former advertising man likes more than a deadline – miss that Inder and that is what failure looks like. It was a challenge, and I will be forever grateful to the hordes of parish stalwarts, election officials and volunteers who assisted in making the delivery a success.

At that time, I was also a member of the Committee for Economic Development and as someone who has run small- to medium-size businesses most of his working career, my natural place was to remain in economic development. In 2020, I put myself forward for the presidency of Economic Development, the Assembly agreed, and after nearly five years I have been reflecting on what the committee has done and what advice I might give any incoming president.

Economic Development is not about picking winners. That is not government’s job. But it is about encouraging investment to keep Guernsey competitive. A regulatory exemption – with conditions – for Sure’s takeover of Airtel was important, and challenging, but is about the island’s future and sent the right signal. Guernsey is open for business. The increased funding we secured for Guernsey Finance gave that same signal – we have a great offer for the finance sector and must make sure our key markets know that. And of course, the only infrastructure project delivered by this government is the fibre roll out to all Guernsey homes and businesses.

Economic Development is the area that looks easy, but it often is not. We did not plan to go our separate ways from Jersey on ferry services, but circumstances and events sometimes take over, and so we made sure we did what was right for Guernsey. Brittany Ferries is now our partner, it is going well, and we have new opportunities for tourism and trade with France as well as the UK.

I knew my job wasn’t going to be easy. We landed in the middle of a pandemic and as I took my seat no one really knew what the cost of this was going to be to the economy, nor the damage it might have done to the wellbeing of the island. Add into the mix the Brexit decision and it was always going to be an interesting ride.

Thankfully, one area of our economy – the finance sector – was not directly impacted by the various lockdowns, inasmuch it had not laid off staff, neither had it received any government support over this difficult period. And, dear future president, please do not forget that while you could lose 20% of manufacturing in the island and some people would have a dreadful day, if you lose 20% of finance, you start closing schools. It is that stark.

The Brexit negotiations were a set-piece for me, in terms of the relationship with France. There was a clear message from France – albeit my interpretation – ‘no fish, no ports; no fish, no power; no fish, no food’. To our south, we had a belligerent Jersey with smaller waters and a greater interface with the French. I knew that we simply could not overplay our hand, something Jersey could not seem to understand. Working with States external relations officials and exceptionally good Sea Fisheries and Law Officer teams, the negotiations commenced and within 18 months the deal was complete. History will be the judge, but thinking back to the beginning of the process and reflecting on where we could have been, I can assure islanders that we negotiated a particularly good deal for Guernsey.

What the pandemic taught me was that there is no such thing as unskilled labour, something I have often repeated in the States. All employees are cogs in the wheels of any machine. Lose the specialist cleaning staff in any hospital and your highly paid surgeon’s theatre closes. Lose the kitchen porter from any restaurant and your glad-handing maitre d’ is not serving food that night. The great lesson for me is that we are all key workers in our economy and any future president of Economic Development should remember this.

However, the message coming out of those responsible for bringing in our imported teachers, nurses and specialist staff is that it is new homes for them. The Old Tyre Centre in La Charroterie is for key workers, the now-defunct deal at the Braye Lodge was for key workers, the now-failed negotiations on the Leale’s Yard site would have included 100 units for – you guessed it – key workers.

Where government could have got something out of the ground was at La Fontaine Vinery at Baubigny for reasonably priced or social housing. This has now been axed. The 90 to 100 units planned for there have now evaporated. This States started quite well with real drive to deliver housing, but it has failed. Local workers’ housing for the near future will be determined by the vagaries of the private rental market and homelessness is on the rise. And it gets worse than that. Not only will imported workers get brand-new homes, but the States will also subsidise them to boot. That is unfair, unreasonable, and not good enough. It turns Guernsey into a glorified carousel. You, born in Guernsey, will come back from university to your teenage bedroom or, if you choose a non-university vocational or technical route, you may never leave your teenage bedroom. If that is what this island will become, that is not society – that is a clearance.

The future president of the Committee for Economic Development has a responsibility to deliver an economy for everyone, not just for those with wealth, means or luck. Working closely with the new Housing Committee and Education, Sport & Culture on areas of skills and diversity should form part of any future strategy.

You have a couple of choices as president of Economic Development. You can roll back, wallow in the status and allow officials to bring their policies forward. Or you can choose the more difficult path, one of leadership, driving your own and your committee members’ policies forward, assuming they have any, and trying to get as much policy work and delivery done in the short period of time that you have available.

And do not underestimate the relationship you will need with the president of the Policy & Resources Committee. I knew from day one that this would be key to my committee’s success. For the first two years every official knew that when I was speaking I carried the former Policy & Resources with me – and that is critical in this system of government. If you do not have confidence in any new president of Policy & Resources, then do not put yourself forward.

Choosing your team will be your first challenge. I came into a world of two so-called parties, the Partnership of Independents and the Guernsey Party. Sure, my primary choice of committee members was based on what they could offer the committee in terms of skill set, but I had to consider the parties which had emerged. I simply wasn’t going to get out-gunned by four new candidates who slavishly followed a policy line from their glorious leader(s).

If they had opposed each other at decision-making time, well that was fine, but I held the deciding vote. That scenario did not happen to any great degree, but as someone who cherishes his ability to free think, I was prepared at least.

Former presidents of Economic Development did not utilise non-voting members. I did and am hugely grateful for their input into my committee. I am not from the finance sector, as most people know, but as I have stated elsewhere it needs solid representation. And what better method of testing policy development than having members of the public who are from the industry? Someone asked me once what input the non-voting members have on the committee, and this was my response: ‘They stop the committee from doing anything stupid.’

A president who believes he or she is an absolute monarch is going to be in for a major surprise. You simply cannot be across the full mandate of your committee. The best advice I could give is to flatten the structure and divvy out the mandate areas to those who are willing. Keep a weather eye on their work of course, but empowering your members to get on with the ‘lead’ areas does two things – it gives them ownership of the committee’s work and is a vertical training course in political delivery.

Economic Development’s purpose directed by the States is: ‘To secure prosperity through the generation of wealth and the creation of the greatest number and widest range of employment opportunities possible by promoting and developing business, commerce and industry in all sectors of the economy.’ But getting down to the details of what Economic Development can achieve, under this system of government it is quite limited. If you believe, as I do, that the route to economic growth is through investment in infrastructure, the opportunities for growth are not always under the mandate of the committee. What I mean by that is the ability for the committee to offer opportunities to ideas people, investors and private capital.

You’d like to invest in the dairy industry – go to see the States Trading Supervisory Board. You have ideas on airport investment – go to see STSB. You’d like a hotel somewhere on the harbours – go to see Property Management and STSB. You want to talk about the marine industry – go to see STSB and Environment & Infrastructure. You’re in renewables – go to see STSB and E&I and the Development & Planning Authority, oh and P&R.

Significant to that projection that Guernsey is open to business must be the opportunities at St Sampson’s and St Peter Port. As we head towards the end of the political term, there has been some incredibly good activity that with the right leadership could attract significant inward investment in the island. But it will need packaging up into a clear path to investment and not get bogged down in the dysfunctional system that the new president will inherit.

The Guernsey Development Agency under the leadership of Peter Watson has set out an achievable vision in five key policy areas, but do not underestimate the ability of the STSB to pull down the shutters on government and find a myriad of ways to slow down any progress.

Similarly for St Peter Port Harbour, there is a belief, if not a delusion, that Guernsey will build a third harbour at St Sampson’s. It will not and it does not matter how many times it is repeated in the States. The only real option for an extension is off the East Arm.

Our machinery of government is not for the faint-hearted. It is nonsensical and needs a topic-based overhaul. We have Medieval laws in a Victorian system of government trying to deliver 21st-century solutions. It simply is not going to work.

I have long recognised the requirement for the dismantling of the STSB and for the ports to come under the mandate of Economic Development, if not commercialised. That is no criticism of exceptional officers I have worked with recently within STSB, especially on the Brittany Ferries contract, but a fish does rot from the head. STSB needs someone who recognises that the board holds the key to much of the infrastructure investment and growth potential so desperately needed in the island.

This term hasn’t been easy. As I’ve said regularly, we landed in the longest Covid period, Brexit was one of the major decisions the government had to make, the cost of living started to rocket, Russians rolled their tanks over the border of Ukraine, energy prices rose considerably, and a generation that had known only nigh on 0% interest got the shock of their lives when they realised borrowing costs money.

But Guernsey has shown its resilience, its ability to survive and endure. Eighty years ago, many of our mothers and fathers were either evacuated, occupied or deported. Our families were starving, and the average weight of the Guernsey man was around six and a half stone. This island has done well over the past 40 years, through hard work, pragmatism and diligence. We came through some difficult days, and we thrived. The next 40 years will be different.

This Economic Development Committee delivered fibre to all homes, negotiated fishing deals with France, re-imagined the tourism strategy and got the management out of government. It had a crucial role in the success of the Moneyval inspection and I, along with a handful of officials, spent a very difficult 18 months through a loaded tender process trying to work with Jersey.

I would like to have thought that the next president, my successor, would have had an easier time and could thoroughly concentrate on strategy. But then America had an election, and I cannot call what will happen in the next year or so. There are constant headwinds, more than I have seen in my career. But Guernsey is resilient.

All I would ask a future president to remember is why we are here today and the privilege the position bestows on you. What you say as the president of Economic Development matters and what you deliver is crucial. But never forget that Guernsey and its people must always come first.